BERLIN - Talking points from the Bundesliga weekend.
DORTMUND WOES
Borussia Dortmund are in danger of missing the Champions League for the first time since the 2015-16 season after a 2-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt left them seven points off fourth place.
Bayern Munich's Poland striker Robert Lewandowski has been ruled out for four weeks after suffering a sprained ligament in his right knee, the German champions said on Tuesday.
Lewandowski sustained the injury in Poland's World Cup qualifying win over Andorra on Sunday, ruling him out of their match against England on Wednesday, and had scans on Monday.
Can Bayern Munich superstar Robert Lewandowski catch the legendary Gerd Müller? How many goals will Borussia Dortmund starlet Erling Haaland finish with? Some of the best goal scorers in the world ply their trade in Germany and the Bundesliga top scorers 2020-2021 list has never been more intriguing.
According to a report by David Ornstein of The Athletic, Liverpool is in the process of finalizing a move for RB Leipzig central defender Ibrahima Konate.
Borussia Mönchengladbach have agreed to hire former Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso as their manager for next season, German newspaper Bild reported on Monday without identifying its sources.
Alonso, who won the World Cup and two European Championship titles and was a Champions League winner at Liverpool and Real Madrid, became coach of boyhood club Real Sociedad's youth team in 2019 and has led them to the playoffs in the third tier.
Real Sociedad declined to comment on the Bild report, saying Alonso was focused on his side's promotion campaign.
In a sign of just how good Bayern Munich is right now, the German giants went down a man in the 12th minute and still found a way to demolish Stuttgart 4-0 on Saturday at Allianz Arena.
Alphonso Davies was shown the first red card of his career, but it mattered little as Bayern scored three times in the 10 minutes that followed. Robert Lewandowski had a perfect hat trick by halftime as he passed yet another milestone.
Heiko Vogel, a former Champions League coach at FC Basel now managing the Borussia Mönchengladbach U-23s, was charged with “unsporting behavior” toward referees during a recent match. His so-called punishment might have been more offensive than the transgression itself.
For a while now, I have touted that college basketball and European soccer, despite an ocean between them, are very much two parallel sports.
The fervor of college basketball student sections, something not found at most professional sports games in the United States, is the closest facsimile to thousands of mad ultras at a European football match, making home advantage so important in each sport.
I know, it’s hard being a goalkeeper. They’re rarely praised for making game-changing saves and heavily criticized for any blunders they make. But Rune Jarstein’s effort on the Julian Brandt goal vs Hertha Berlin on Saturday left a lot to be desired.
Borussia Dortmund beat Hertha 2-0 thanks to Brandt’s long-range goal. It was a vital win for Borussia Dortmund, which has fallen out of the Champions League places in the Bundesliga and sits fifth but will likely end the weekend back in sixth.